Hante Blog and Photos

When we look back over all of the trips we’ve taken, we realize that some Hantes are so exciting, they’re worth repeating! Every summer Hante participants return with wonderful stories of the adventures they’ve experienced, the wildlife they’ve encountered, the high adventure skills that they’ve learned and the lifelong friendships that they’ve formed. It’s no wonder that their younger siblings and friends want to get a crack at a similar experience on the same Hante. With this in mind, we have decided to put our Hante schedule on a rotating three year cycle for our international Hantes and for our special domestic Hantes. Click the title above to learn more…

What do slot canyons, flash floods, rattlesnakes, and big lightning storms have in common?  The answer is not much, unless you were a member of the Hante crew that explored the canyon country of Southern Utah this summer!

Meeting in Salt Lake City, the Hante crew got their first taste of dry heat as we cruised into the Uinta Mountains for a cool night before going full force into the heat of southern Utah.  Overlooking the San Rafael Swell for their first lunch, the crew got excited to descend and start becoming intimate with the landscape that would be surrounding them.  Headed for Goblin Valley State Park, eerily named for the looming pinnacles of rock found there, everyone was ready to experience what wind and water can do to sculpt rock into wild forms.  While camping at Goblin Valley, we got our first taste of the powerful storms that can come through the Southwest without warning.  Sand and rain became noisy neighbors as we slept through the night anticipating our first journey down a slot canyon.  The next morning, heeding the wise advice to get early starts on canyon hikes in the summer, we set out into Little Wild Horse slot canyon.  Weaving and scrambling our way through the narrow passages we began to understand and appreciate that water possesses a certain power in the desert to do incredible things. Exiting the canyon in the early afternoon we saw that thunderheads were building over our next destination, Capitol Reef National Park. 

Upon our arrival in Capitol Reef, we realized that the river we were driving along was getting muddier as we traveled up it.  FLASH FLOOD!!!  The Fremont River, which typically is only approximately 2-3 feet deep, was well over 8 feet and raging with the fury of the heavens in it!  Our time in Capitol Reef was spent enjoying beautiful hikes to natural bridges and arches, overland hikes that showed off the wonderful Waterpocket Fold, and picking apricots in the many orchards around our campsite.  An oasis in the desert? Perhaps… but we knew we had to get moving to the region that gave southern Utah its reputation, Canyonlands National Park.

What is there to do in a place that is as dry as Canyonlands National Park? Stay hydrated, take long breaks in the shade, and hike through the riparian corridors that exist along the bottoms of the canyons.  Large deciduous trees such as the cottonwood are the desert indicator of water to the thirsty and weary hiker.  Along Squaw, Elephant, and Big Spring Canyon cottonwoods were saving grace for their wonderful shade.  Our campsite came fully equipped with a rock slab that traveled up to a backporch of slickrock that gave us 360° views for spectacular sunsets!  Check out the pictures for a better understanding of how awesome sunsets are in the Southwest.  After seeing ancient rock art and old food granaries of the ancestral Puebloan culture, we traveled up to Moab to connect up with our river guides for the river portion of the trip.

The Colorado River, responsible for draining all the water of the Southwest region and for the carving of the Grand Canyon would be our aquatic highway for the next week.  With our experienced river guides, we traveled down three days of flat water in row boats and an inflatable ducky, stopping to enjoy cliff dwellings, beautiful amphitheaters, and squeezing time in there to swim!  On the fourth day there were only two words that were on everyone’s minds, Cataract Canyon.  Approximately 25 miles with 30 distinct rapids, Cataract Canyon is a whitewater heaven.  All the Hante crew banded together to paddle down the rapids while one instructor and a Hante member managed the ducky.  All the rapids were done in style with one case of a paddler getting tossed out but quickly brought back into the boat.  Forty miles of Lake Powell were crossed using the assistance of a motor as we made it to Hite Marina and the close of our river portion.  It was a bittersweet departure from the river as we would be leaving behind huge meals and bathing opportunities, but would be entering the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to experience the beautiful contrast of reds and whites that are found in the rock strata of the region.

“Only a fool predicts the weather.” This was our mantra on the Hante and it proved to help us make the right decision as we entered the Escalante region.  Descending from the high mountains we realized that the region was blanketed in an uncommon veil of clouds.  After talking with the park rangers, it was determined that rather than taking our chances predicting that weather wouldn’t be an issue, we decided that backpacking in flash flood prone canyons was not the smartest of moves.  Instead we developed four days of exciting day hikes that gave us views of towering pinnacles in Bryce Canyon National Park and Kodachrome State Park along with breathtaking expanses and 80 foot waterfalls in Escalante National Monument.  Our decision proved to be a wise one as numerous thunderstorms developed in the area that we intended to backpack in. On our last night in canyon country, we were treated to a late in the evening thunderstorm that had us running for the van several times to wait out the lightning.  After a more or less sleepless night, we said farewell to canyon country and we hopped back in the car for a scenic drive back up to Salt Lake City to catch our flights.

A journey through the canyons of Utah provided us an excellent opportunity to learn about the ancient landscapes that are exposed in the rock strata of the region.  From 3,000 foot tall petrified dunes to large shallow seas, the history of this region is locked up in the rocks.  Cliff dwellings and rock art dot the landscape and provide recognition of previous cultures that lived in this area long before the first European set eyes on the mighty Colorado River or saw the soaring cliffs of Capitol Reef.  This Hante experience showed us that there is more to the desert than a barren landscape of sand; but maybe we will keep that our little secret!

Click here for Southwest Canyons Photos!

At the end of June this summer, a group of 9 particularly adventuresome campers came to The Nest at the beginning of session 2. As we quickly got to know each other, we realized that our group was very special and we had a lot of fun times to look forward to on the trail.

We spent the first couple days at camp preparing our gear and food for the adventure that lay ahead. We left The Nest on Tuesday morning as a bunch of individuals looking forward to the group experience and drove to the trailhead to begin our two week hike. The group learned the ropes of backpacking quickly and within a couple nights had camps set up that appeared to be the handiwork of seasoned professionals. As we began our journey southbound, our first six days of hiking were taken slowly while we all broke in our boots and got used to carrying large backpacks. A couple highlights from the first section were ascending to Chestnut Knob Shelter, our first of many wonderful shelters along the trail. At Chestnut Knob we enjoyed our first campfire and had a beautiful view of the Southwestern Virginia night sky. We also enjoyed celebrating the 4^th of July in a (soon-to-be) traditional way by roasting Starburst over the campfire.

Our resupply came and we gratefully showered and donned fresh clothes. We took the time to smooth out a few bumps and repack our packs with a full load of food for the second half of our southbound journey along the Appalachian Trail. We began again with a couple short days and then something magical happened.

One day we had made it about 6 miles to Grayson Highlands State Park in the afternoon. The shelter was too small for the eleven of us and it was beginning to rain so we decided to continue on to another shelter 5 miles further. On our way out of Grayson Highlands we spent some time admiring the wild ponies alongWilburn Ridge and then continued our trek. Shortly after we took a break while ascending a mountain and refueled ourselves on wild blueberries. We continued along that evening in the periodic rain, sometimes staying just ahead of the precipitation. When we finally reached what is labeled on the map as “Fatman Squeeze Tunnel,” we knew we must be nearing the shelter. The rain began to catch up to us, but despite tired feet and drenched gear we remained enthusiastic. Exclamations of “this is what we came for!” and “this is my favorite day!” kept us going and going. After a long, arduous 11 mile day, we finally reached the 12 person shelter—only to find out that it was occupied by a family of five and a dog. They sympathetically greeted us and waved as we continued on past the shelter a short distance to set up our tarps.

If people were exhausted that night as we cooked and set up camp, it did not show because each camper’s face was beaming with pride. As we went to bed that night, we all felt a sense of accomplishment and wondered what could happen next. The next morning we woke up and the group decided that we could go even further. We hiked 13 miles that day and were rewarded by an unoccupied shelter! A couple days later we walked right in to the town of Damascus, Virginia. Damascus is known as “Trail Town USA” since the Appalachian Trail goes directly through town.

We spent the night at a hostel for hikers known as “The Place.” The next morning we rented bicycles and rode 14 beautiful miles along the Virginia Creeper Trail, stopping for lunch halfway through. We ended the night, our last in Virginia, with a feast at a local pizza buffet and went to sleep that night feeling content in many ways.

Hante AT Trek Virginia returned to The Nest the next day more as a family than a group of individuals and were greeted the whole camp cheering for us and giving us hugs and high fives. Our time together came to a close with a slideshow of pictures accompanied by reminiscent stories and shared excitement for our next adventures. Mountains, miles and meals were easily measurable achievements. It is the growth we experienced as individuals and a group that truly made this a special adventure.

Click here for AT Trek Virginia Photos!

If you’ve spent any time hiking the Appalachian Trail through the Grayson Highlands in southern Virginia, you know that the area is not lacking in natural beauty. Grassy balds atop 5500’ mountains yield magnificent 360-degree views of peaks in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Colorful wildflowers abound, and the air is fragrant with the smell of wild huckleberries and blueberries. Perhaps the only thing missing from this picture are beautiful ponies lazily grazing the hillsides, munching on grass and basking in the warm sunshine. But that kind of thing only exists in movies and paintings, right? Wrong.